Puzzles, Anyone?

Some in our family love puzzles. Others, who shall remain nameless, are ambivalent. But when we have a puzzle going, it requires thought concerning logistics. There is always so much going on in our "antbed", that very few horizontal surfaces are available for long periods of time. Where should we work on it? Do we leave it out, or put it up when through for the day? How do we keep up with all the pieces? As usual, I want a system.

We have tried one of those roll up mats that are supposed to allow you to simply roll and unroll the puzzle when needed. There are probably ones that work better, but the one we bought was vinyl and permanently wrinkled. So it ended up in the trash.

We have resorted to a simpler fix.


We assemble the puzzle on a poster board that can, with the help of two people, be safely moved from place to place. Now the best solution is actually a piece of masonite, thin but rigid. But in a pinch, a poster board works fine, too.

                      

Now, what about all those hundreds and hundreds of pieces? After removing all the edge pieces, we sort the rest by color. Using a paper plate for each group, we keep the piles separate, but portable. If several people are helping, the plate system works well because each person can concentrate on a specific section and have all the pieces in their plate. When through for the day, the plates are stacked and stored in an out of the way place. 

Don't know why I thought ANYONE else would find that interesting, but it's always nice to have things written down so if I forget . . .